Video

HE Chronicles: Episodes 9 PLUS

Thoughts on HE

For a number of years now I have been taking videos with point and shoot camera technology. In that I carry a camera with me at all times, I have utilized the convenience of the technology to capture visual events that catch my eye.

The results, with durations between 5-60 seconds, vary in interest formally or in terms of content. It occurred to me however that irregardless of those parameters, the clips do serve as an cumulative chronicle of daily travels and events; quasi autobiographical in authorship and subjective relevance.

Parallel with this visual inventory, I had undertaken a written chronicle of events and emotions that rise to the conscious surface as flotsam remembrances, released from the vast subconscious storehouse that we commonly identify as memory. The written chronicle, somewhat formal in its language construction, takes the voice of the third person HE to relate this version of autobiography as a continuum; not based on a strict hierarchical chronology of descriptive events nevertheless is based on subjective origins.

Motivated by the desire to integrate visual and voice in an artistic project begat the HE Chronicles.

The HE Chronicles video project and its episodic format, is the opportunity to create a series of inventive and experimental narratives that though unarguably autobiographical in source, generate open ended interpretations by the viewer.

The ability to see this concept take shape creatively and technically required the recognition that a Collaborator with exceptional creative sensitivities and technical skill was required for the project to be realized.

I approached Richard McDowell, an experienced composer/ sound designer/ web master, who has created a number of visual and sound productions most notably with the One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre and has 35 principle productions under his belt.

The process takes the form of the Artist supplying the raw video or pre-edited vignettes to the Collaborator who in turn weaves a visual and sound narrative primarily of his choosing while maintaining with minimal editing, the integrity of each vignette as it was originally shot or pre-edited. The result is returned to the Artist to negotiate editorial changes, substitutions, emphasis, timing, etc and arrive at a mutually agreeable visual solution.

Concurrently a sound track is developed and composed by the Collaborator and further negotiation with the Artist determines ambient sound additions and final placement of the Artist's voice elements.

A back and forth fine tuning, in terms of sound and visuals, continues until both Artist and Collaborator are satisfied that the work is finished.

Episodes of the HE Chronicles, demonstrate the vernacular quality of the imagery and the possibilities of flow, drama and invention that are articulated through the editing choices offered by the archive of images, text, vocals and wedding of ambient and composed sound.

The process truly is experimental and not driven by a predetermined story line or predictable narrative outcome however does offer an intriguing opportunity for imaginative musings and decoding by the viewer.

The quality of the source images varies as a result of the different low rez cameras used however is embraced as an aesthetic outcome. The finished videos are not seen as workable on large screen projection formats but rather more intimate exhibition contexts ie. computer or TV monitors and as content on a dedicated YouTube site and artist's web site where all of the series would be viewable.